Signed in black pastel at upper right corner, "Degas".
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 87, repr.
The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and Oil Sketches : Acquisitions since 1994. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 2002, no. 45.
This large-scale work is one of Degas's studies made over a two-year period between 1878 and 1880 for the celebrated sculpture in wax "Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans", which he exhibited at the Salon in 1881.
The three studies on this sheet depict the teenage dancer Marie van Goethem and were produced in preparation for Degas's celebrated wax sculpture Little Dancer, Fourteen Years Old (National Gallery, Washington, DC). When that work was shown at the sixth Impressionist exhibition of 1881, the artist's inclusion of a wig and a fabric bodice and skirt caused a sensation. Degas made numerous studies of Marie between 1878 and 1880. Here he portrayed her from three different angles, attempting to understand the figure in the round in preparation for sculpting it. As the chalk strokes show, her foreshortened left foot posed a problem when seen from behind, as did her bent arms in profile. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Doucet, Jacques, 1853-1929, former owner.
Wormser, André, former owner.
Feilchenfeldt, Walter, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.